


Paper Thin Walls

by WakeUpDreaming



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bucky/Natasha roommates, F/F, F/M, Loud Sex, M/M, Steve and Bucky are LOUD, Teacher's assistant Skye
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-24
Updated: 2014-08-24
Packaged: 2018-02-14 11:28:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,660
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2189976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WakeUpDreaming/pseuds/WakeUpDreaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bucky and Natasha moved off campus to get away from the loud people. Now, however, Natasha has discovered that with Steve over all the time, he and Bucky are the loud ones.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Paper Thin Walls

**Author's Note:**

> Why can't I escape from college/high school/elementary school AUs? WHY?

“Next year, we’re living off campus,” groans Natasha, the millionth time that semester the people across the hall have a party so loud it’s making her glass of water vibrate.

“What?” Bucky calls to her from where he’s trying to play Mario, “I can’t hear you.” He shakes out his left arm, flexing his fingers a few times. “They’re too loud.”

She snorts. “Exactly. Next year, we’re moving off campus.”

And they do. They get a little two bedroom house, and the rent isn’t horrible, even though the two of them have wait tables at the Russian-European cuisine restaurant (or whatever it is that week) to keep up rent.

The only problem is that the walls are thin. Really thin.

It wasn’t a problem in the dorms, because their rooms were on the other sides of the suit where Natasha shared a room with Sharon and Bucky shared a room with Sam, but now that they’re snuggled right up against each other.

Well, Natasha would rather not hear how much Bucky wants Steve to, “Fuck me into the mattress.”

The year before, also, Steve was only up on the occasional weekend, since he was still in high school, finishing up some credits he fell behind on during that bout of pneumonia that kept him out of school for a while. Now that Steve’s in the art department of the school where Barnes is studying mechanical engineering and Natasha’s double majoring in criminal justice and communications, he’s over almost every night.

Like, enough that Bucky asked her over the weekend how she’d feel about him moving in.

Natasha is bamboozled. And Natasha Romanoff is never bamboozled.

It’s particularly frustrating now that Steve had that stupid growth spurt during his fifth year of high school. Now it’s not just that they make a lot of noise themselves – they slam the stupid bed into the wall.

“I’m telling you!” Natasha whines to Sharon, who ended up being an RA in a freshman dorm. “They’re fucking ALL THE TIME. I tried to study last night with music on, and then one of them started playing Arctic fucking Monkeys and let me tell you, that mixed with moaning is so not conducive to studying.”

“You’re a com major,” says Sharon, smirking. “Shouldn’t you know how to handle this stuff?”

Natasha does her best to roll her eyes as emphatically as possible, and then drops her head on the table. “I let them get here,” she mumbles, “because I wasn’t firm enough with the rules last year.”

“Make a schedule,” says Sharon.

Natasha lifts her head up. “A schedule?”

Sharon nods. “Schedules are extremely helpful,” she says, shrugging. “Give them your list of times you’re in class, which is when they can go at it. And then quiet times and study times, which is when they can’t.”

Natasha grabs Sharon and kisses her flat on the lips. “You’re a genius,” she says, very seriously, “and I love you very much.”

Sharon rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, now go before I have to explain to Sam why you’re trying to make out with me.”

Natasha smirks at her. “Oh I see how it is.”

“Please don’t,” says Sharon quietly.

“Sammy and Sharon, sitting in a tree –”

“Tasha, we’re in a library –”

“Getting it on as freaky as can be.”

At this point, some people have glanced over at the two of them, and Natasha shuts up. “Sorry about that,” she says, smiling apologetically. “I’ll get you an apology cookie later.”

Sharon laughs. “Just go.”

Natasha darts off the to the computer station and spends forty five minutes that she’s supposed to spend reading articles – they can wait, she can skim them – writing up all three of their schedules, factoring study times, sleep times, and chill time. It’s not hard to access Bucky or Steve’s passwords. They use each other’s birthdays.

Bucky and Steve are outrageously, annoyingly adorable.

~

Of course, when Natasha gets into the house, Steve’s in Bucky’s lap, and they’re making the most hideous of slurping, kissing, gross noises Natasha’s ever heard.

At least they’re clothed. Well, mostly. Steve’s shirt is rucked up around his shoulders.

“Guys,” she whines, “didn’t we make, like, a rule about the couch?”

“You said no fucking on the couch,” says Bucky as he breaks away from Steve’s lips. “This is just casual kissing.”

“I’m pretty sure you were giving Steve a tonsillectomy,” Natasha grumbles. “But, convenient segue. We need to lay some ground rules so I don’t get woken up by Sky Ferreira and Arctic Monkeys harmonized with you begging him to let you come.” She figures a brash approach would work.

It does.

“You can hear that?” Steve squeaks.

“All of it,” Natasha replies, deadpan. “And I’d really rather not.” She hands them the schedules. “Here’s how it goes. Black boxes are times when all three of us are in the house. If you’re fucking during a black box time, and haven’t checked to see if someone’s home, you better be sure to be quiet. My at-home times are blue, James’ are yellow, Steve’s, yours are red. When it’s blue, I’m home alone. When it’s green or purple, I’m home with one of you two. But when it’s orange, that’s when you can go bananas.”

“This is way too complicated,” says Steve, frowning. “I mean, I get it, but…”

“But nothing,” says Natasha. “One too many times.”

She explains the coding a little more, mainly to waste their time, because it’s entertaining, until James just says, “Fine! We get it. We’ll calm it down.”

“Is this a bad time to ask about the moving in thing?” Steve adds.

Natasha just silently lays down on the floor and doesn’t respond for a few minutes.

~~

Everybody has to take a computer science class.

Not everybody takes a computer science class with a peer teaching assistant with an amazing ass and awesome hair.

“Oh no,” Natasha mumbles into Sam’s ear, “help, she’s hot.”

Sam snorts. “I can’t help you there,” he replies. “You should talk to her.”

“I don’t want to.”

“You should.”

“I –”

“And if the pair in the back will stop talking, we can get to the C++ explanation,” says the PTA, and, fuck, she’s really hot even from the front.

It takes Natasha three classes before she goes up to the PTA – who is named Skye and is actually adorably tiny when she’s not being all commanding with the computers – and asks her for extra help.

Natasha does not need extra help. Natasha is employing a technique she’s watched Sam do a million times to Sharon when he “can’t remember how to fix the TV” so she gets all up in his space and has to “help him.”

“Are you sure?” Skye asks. “Because you’ve aced every single exit pass and seem advanced, actually.”

Natasha frowns, because this is not how it works with Sam and Sharon. Skye looks like she’s fighting a smile. “Fine,” says Natasha. “I don’t need help.”

Skye nods. “And your goal was…?”

Natasha makes poor decisions. Especially when cute girls are involved, and especially when she’s dealing with romantic interludes. So she just shrugs.

The girl smiles. “Would it help if I said there aren’t any rules against PTAs going out with students in their class?”

“Is that your way of asking me out?”

Skye frowns. “No,” she says, “it’s my way of saying you can ask me out if you want.”

Natasha shrugs. She can certainly work with that. “Coffee. At the Bookworm in the library. Five o clock?”

Skye sighs. “Nah.”

Natasha studies her for a second, waiting for her to break.

The smile cracks. “Okay, yes,” says Skye. “Apparently I can’t mess with you.”

Natasha shrugs. “I’m good at reading people.”

~~

Coffee goes well. Their study session afterwards in one of the library nooks goes better.

The next three nights they get coffee and study together. It’s awesome and perfect, and Natasha learns that she’s probably going to ace her computer science course without even a little bit of work. It’s nice to know.

“That’s four dates, Romanoff,” says James where he’s stretched out across Steve’s lap as they watch TV. “You going to kiss her yet?”

Natasha frowns. “It’s early. I don’t want to mess it up.”

Steve rolls his eyes as he runs his fingers through James’ hair. “Just kiss her. You spend all your time worrying about how other people think that you don’t just do anything on impulse.”

“Impulse is a bad idea,” says Natasha sullenly.

“You’re a bad idea,” murmurs James, and then he moans in a way that makes Natasha avert her gaze to the TV screen deliberately.

“Not in the living room,” she says, her voice as flat as she can get it, “we have rules.”

“Then we’ll be upstairs,” says Steve, standing. “We’ll be quiet.”

“No you won’t!” exclaims Natasha. “You don’t know how to be!”

She’s right, of course, but at least they warned her. When the moaning got loud enough that she could decipher out actual words, she turns the volume up and hopes with all her heart that the How I Met Your Mother rerun is as loud to them as they are to her.

~~

Skye takes Natasha by surprise the next morning before her computer science class and kisses her.

“You were taking forever to do it,” says Skye, shrugging. “I figured I could.”

Natasha nods. “You could do it again, if you wanted to.”

Skye laughs, and Natasha only has a second to think about how much she loves the sound before Skye presses her lips to Natasha’s again.

Natasha and Skye keep making eye contact through class, and Sam has to keep whacking Natasha in the arm to keep her focused.

At the end of class, Skye asks if she can come see Natasha’s house.

Natasha stealthily – read: on her phone – checks the color block schedule, and sees that it’s going to be blue for the next two hours.

“Of course,” she says, and then, casually, adds, “my roommates won’t be home for another few hours, I think.”

A smile spreads across Skye’s face. “Good,” she replies.

Natasha ignores Sam’s hip thrusting and weird expressions in the background.

~~

“It’s so cute!” says Skye. “Oh, I can’t wait to live off campus. I’m in a suite with a couple of my friends, but it’s not exactly what I wanted.” She wrinkles her nose. “My RA is kind of a killjoy.”

“You don’t have Sharon Carter, do you?”

Skye shakes her head, shifting her backpack on her shoulder. “Nope,” she replies, “Phil Coulson.” She rolls her eyes, then puts on the tone of an older guy. “Rules are rules – quiet time means I shouldn’t hear anything from the doors!” She sighs. “It’s miserable. Especially when I’m in the middle of an episode of Adventure Time. Like, how am I expected to hold it in for Adventure Time?”

Natasha grins, and drops herself on the couch. “That’s why off campus is such a joy,” she says with a sigh, “except for the whole loud roommate and roommate’s boyfriend thing.”

Skye laughs, tilting her head back. “You’re telling me,” she snorts, “I live with an engineering major who loses it whenever something doesn’t go quite right.”

Natasha looks at her. “That’s annoying too,” she says, “but I’m thinking a different kind of loud.”

“Oh,” says Skye, cheeks coloring a pretty pink, “that too.”

They pull out study materials – Natasha did most of the homework for comp sci in class, because paying attention is for dweebs – and Natasha gets to work on her math assignment while Skye grades some of the exit passes she’s in charge of.

“Oh,” she says, grinning, “you made a mistake on this one!”

“Did not!” Natasha replies. “Let me see that!”

Skye shrugs. “I’m not sure it’s moral for a teacher to show their student their grades before the rest of the class,” says Skye, trying to hold the slip of paper out of Natasha’s reach. “Don’t want any special treatment.”

Natasha pouts and stretches across Skye to try and grab the paper. “Aw, come on,” she says, “pretty please?”

Natasha suddenly realizes that she’s nearly on top of Skye, and swallows. “I, um –”

“What?” asks Skye, and the grin is too tempting. Natasha kisses her, and it’s not long before the homework and papers are spilled on the ground and Natasha’ got her fingers tangled in Skye’s hair. Skye’s making these breathy gasping noises that are seriously doing it for Natasha.

Skye’s hands are making their way to the hem of Natasha’s shirt when there’s a strange thumping and groaning noise from upstairs.

Natasha freezes and looks down at Skye. “Did you hear that?” she asks.

“Are your – are your roommates home?” Skye asks in reply.

Natasha sits up, listening. “Hmm.”

“You heard that, right?” Skye asks.

Natasha nods. “Yeah,” she says, “I mean, it might have been their TV. They leave it on by accident sometimes.”

Skye nods. “Works for me.” She pulls Natasha back on top of her, and Natasha feels sparks race down her spine and across her skin as Skye dances her fingertips up Natasha’s back. It’s Natasha’s turn to make the little noises again, and Skye laughs against her lips.

“Are you purring?” Skye murmurs.

“No,” says Natasha, “kind of. Shut up.”

Skye pulls her in again, shifting her legs so Natasha falls between them, and the two of them stretch all the way out on the couch. Natasha’s notes are probably all kinds of out of order, but she really doesn’t care, because Skye is totally going for her bra clasp and, holy shit, this is the best thing to happen to her since god knows when.

That’s when she hears, “Harder, Bucky, come on. Give it to me.”

Skye freezes and her eyes widen almost comically. “Oh my god,” she squeaks.

“I’m so sorry,” Natasha says. “I didn’t –”

“You’re gonna beg for it,” comes James’ voice, and it’s far more gruff than Natasha’s ever heard in her life.

“Is that James Barnes?” Skye asks, looking horrified. “Oh, my god, he’s in my advanced computer design class.” She stares at the ceiling. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to look at him the same way.”

Natasha groans and sits up. She grabs the broom they keep on the way down to the basement and hits the ceiling with it, right where the floor of James’ room is.

“You two!” she shouts, loud as she can. “This is totally my time in the house! Why are you not in class?!”

It’s silent upstairs for a few moments as Skye and Natasha stare at the ceiling, until there’s the sound of a door opening and closing and two people stumbling down the stairs.

“Alright, first off,” says Natasha, “that is my shirt. I have no idea where you got my shirt, Steve. Second of all, why are you not in class?!”

Steve stares at her. “Online class,” he says.

“And mine’s a lab, so I get out when I’m done,” James says. “And it’s the first day.” He turns to Skye. “Oh, god, it’s you!”

Skye, to her credit, looks unimpressed. “Your shirt’s on backwards,” she says casually. “And I like your Spiderman boxers. Did you do the assignment yet?”

~~

“Hey,” says Sam. “Fun afternoon yesterday?”

“How would you know?” Natasha says as she falls into her seat.

Sam pulls out his phone and shakes it in front of her. “You pocket dialed me. Half an hour.” He wiggles his eyebrows. “Sharon and I were very amused.”

Natasha groans and drops her head onto her arms. “I hate all of you,” she grumbles.

“But not me,” comes a voice, and Skye rests a hand on her back, letting her fingers trail along it as she walks past.

Natasha sits straight up like she’d been electrocuted.

“You gonna start purring?” Sam asks, expression sly and basically evil.

Natasha glares. “Oh, shut up.”


End file.
